Each year on World Press Freedom Day (May 3), CPJ announces its list of the ten worst enemies of the press. Those who made the list this year, as in the past, earned the dubious distinction by exhibiting particular zeal in the ruthless suppression of press freedom. They were singled out for their unrelenting and…
In a year that saw strongman Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali reelected in October with 99.42 percent of the vote, the press remained in the stranglehold of the Tunisian police state. For the second year in a row, CPJ named President Ben Ali one of the world’s top 10 enemies of the press. Since ousting “president…
Right after the police raided my house, on May 24, 1999, they seemed to vanish from the neighborhood. You didn’t see them in Street 7134, and they stopped hanging out in the local café. But this proved to be a short respite—the calm before the storm. In mid-June, just as I was sighing with relief…
New York, May 24, 1999-The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) expressed its alarm over the arrest today of journalist Taoufik Ben Brik, a freelance reporter working for a number of European newspapers, including the Paris-based daily La Croix. At around 11:00 a.m. local time, Ben Brik was arrested without warrant by Tunisian authorities in the capital…
May 21, 1999 His Excellency Zine El-Abdine Ben Ali President of the Republic of Tunisia c/o His Excellency Noureddine Mejjoub 1515 Massachusetts Avenue, N.W. Washington, DC 20005 Your Excellency, The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is outraged over yesterday’s assault on journalist Taoufik Ben Brik, a freelance reporter working for a number of European newspapers,…
May 6, 1999 His Excellency Zine El-Abdine Ben Ali President of the Republic of Tunisia c/o His Excellency Noureddine Mejjoub 1515 Massachusetts Avenue, N.W. Washington, DC 20005 Your Excellency, The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is outraged over yesterday’s assault on journalist Taoufik Ben Brik, a freelance reporter working for a number of European newspapers,…
During little more than a decade in power, President Zine Abdine Ben Ali has reduced Tunisia’s once-respectable press to one of the most restricted in the Arab world. On World Press Freedom Day, May 3, CPJ named Ben Ali as one of the world’s 10 worst Enemies of the Press. Tunisian journalists continue to operate…
On May 3, 1999, World Press Freedom Day, the Committee to Protect Journalists, for the second consecutive year, named Tunisian President Zine Abdine Ben Ali as one of the world’s top 10 Enemies of the Press. Since ousting strongman Habib Bourguiba from power in 1987, Ben Ali has helped to transform Tunisia’s press into one…